After studying the sustainability indicators in San José de la Joya in the ixtlera rural region of Coahuila's semidesert, data and indicators elaborated according to perceptions, actions and participation of local inhabitants, under a community management ecological program were analyzed. The results and indicators belong to three regional systems: ecological (productive diversification); production (agricultural outputs, free-external inputs); and socioeconomic (services access, employment diversification, and quality of life). We concluded that the creation of productive agricultural alternatives, territorial ecological management, and local development planning and administration, including actions which promote an ixtlera region sustainable development model, imply necessarily the reduction of regional vulnerability, the increase of economic activities that provide employment, income and a better quality of life for rural people, which could be related to urbanization and industrialization processes in northeast Mexico's semidesert.